Brazilian Politics

A request by the Social Liberal Party (PSL) to suspend the Special Campaign Financing Fund was referred by Judge Rosa Weber to the full court. The fund, approved by Congress this month, earmarked R$ 1.7 billion of public resources for politicians to spend on advertisements, rallies and trips. However, the date for this issue to be appraised by the Supreme Court has yet to be set.

Photo: Wilton Junior/Estadão Conteúdo

Meanwhile, as a result of the political bargaining to save Temer from criminal charges, his allied base in Congress have sent him an ultimatum, demanding an immediate ministerial overhaul to reward the congressmen who voted in his favor. This could upset the government’s political agenda, including the approval of the much-needed fiscal reform.

Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Former Trump Campaign Chief Indicted

Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman and a business partner, Rick Gates, pleaded not guilty to charges related to money laundering, tax fraud and foreign lobbying in connection with their work in Ukraine. These are the first accusations of Robert Mueller, the prosecutor investigating Russian links to the Trump campaign. No mention is made of President Trump or election meddling.

Mladen Antonov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Russian Interference

Facebook, Twitter and Google disclosed new details of Russian attempts to influence the American political scenario by spreading discord, underscoring the scope of the Kremlin’s efforts. Russian agents reached 126 million users on Facebook alone. Although all attention is turned to Russia at the moment, Facebook services have been abused in other parts of the world, such as Myanmar, where the risks can be a matter of life and death.

Waymo

Virtual Reality and Driverless Cars

Companies like Toyota, Uber and Waymo are testing autonomous vehicles on the streets of Mountain View, Calif., Phoenix and other cities, allowing the computers that operate driverless cars to absorb the rules of the road. However, many more hours are spent testing vehicles inside computer simulations of these same cities. This allows the computers to learn from mistakes and to identify flaws without endangering real people.